The Mini Games of RAGE

Gambling. Rage has two games you can play that you might dismiss as gimmicky, but after you play them, you get a little hooked; at least I did.

The first is a holographic board game. You make a bet, roll the dice (It's actually more like a slot machine effect) and wait for the outcome. Totally luck, but with odds in your favor, or so it seems. It's still good enough to fool you into thinking you might lose. I never did, however, and the longer I played, the more up I get. It's still fun.

The second game is called RAGE Frenzy, and it's a card game. You actually choose which cards you want to play, and then the game takes over, so it's less chance driven than the dice game. It's a little like a turn based RTS. It would have been nice if the developers had built in the ability to choose which cards are played first, but unless I'm missing something, that option isn't available. Too bad, because if you could choose when you want your cards played, that is, in what order, RAGE Frenzy could have been a really good turn based RTS game on its own. To play, you need to purchase a starter deck, but you must collect the bulk of cards as you pass through your main plot line. Some instances allow you to go back and find the cards, and some do not. So, if you want to play the card game well, you really need to make sure you find those cards. At 225 a pop at the highest bet setting, it can be a real money maker for you too, probably the best way to earn money in the game. Plus, it's really fun.

This idea would be good in MMOGs too. Imagine playing real people as a turn based RTS, like RAGE Frenzy, for in-game money with other players. I actually think this might have already been done to some degree in some MMO, if I remember correctly, but it was more like a real card game than a turn based RTS.

Then we have the races. You race in order to get money and upgrades to your vehicles, but vehicle upgrades can only be purchesed with race credits. (You can get some credits doing other things, but the bulk are from racing.) So RAGE actually forces you to race in order to upgrade your rides, and the races are fun. Once you win the races, you can still go back and play for fun, and you still get some reward for winning, like a usable item or two.

Here's one of the two places you sign up for races. RAGE has two main towns where you spend most of your time, Wellspring and Subway Town, each having one race stand.

Last, you can also get side jobs. Side jobs come from NPGs walking around the game, so ask around, or a "jobs" board. These side jobs help with your economic situation as well as just being fun. The last thing I want to talk about is weapons and supplies, because RAGE allows, and in some instances, demands that you craft items (if you want elite stuff).

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